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Morton Rhue - "The wave" Theme/Message: - people can easily be manipulated - takes often a long time to realize this manipulation to be self-confident and crticial towards other opinions and ideas - experiment of Ben Ross Setting: - place: Palo Alto, California - time: 1969 - based on real story Protagonists: Laurie Saunders: - pretty girl, having perpetual smile - used to chew on pens when she feels nervous - editor-in-chief of school´s newspaper "The grapevine" - cheerful nature - smart, clever and intelligent student - gets A-marks - strong character - reliable, ambitious, strong sense of justice - good intuition, need for friendship - intellectually trained and self-confident person - antagonist to Ben - fights against Wave - most popular girl at schools - short brown hair Amy Smith: - petite, fair girl - best friend of Laurie - smart and intelligent - gets A-marks - feels that the people only likes her when she is able to keep up with Laurie Mr. Gabondi: - French teacher - is not loved by the pupils => courses too boring Ben Ross: - young History teacher - for 2 years at Gordon High - wife: Christy Ross (teacher in music and choir at same school) - good reputation at school - pupils like him - very engaged in teaching, interested and involved in topics - brings new outlook to his classes and tries to teach practical, relevant aspects of history - colleagues have different opinions in his way of teaching => some like his unusual methods, some are sceptical => envy and jeaulousy? - ambitious, more stubborn - inventor of "the wave" - communicate to the pupils like a friend Brian Ammon: - quarterback on football team - enjoying social life = important for him - often gets bad marks; but: able to do better Robert Billings: - class loser - gets usually bad marks - Ben Ross: he is a real problem - heavy boy, looks a bit untidy and unkempt - has to struggle to come on - other pupils like to make fun of him - younger brother or excellent pupil David Collins: - tall, good-looking - on football team - Laurie´s boyfriend, loves her very much - gets good marks - natural technical skill - social relationship at school mainly consists of Laurie and his comradeship with members of football team - helpful - against Laurie when he is in the Wave and she writes article against Wave Christy Ross: - complementary character to Ben Ross - efficient in pratical matters - attitude to people: well-balanced - has good sense of humor - shows critical sarcasm - loyal Plot: Chapter 1: - Laurie is in the office and works over next issue of "Grapevine" - other members are not there although they should - Laurie goes to next class - Ben hands out the homework papers: marks predictable Chapter 2: - Ben starts film about Nazis => all pupils are very shocked - start of long discussion about responsibility for htose terrible offences - Ben speaks to Robert and tries to cheer him up Chapter 3: - David, Laurie, Amy and Brian meet in the cafeteria - talk about Robert (sits alone at his table next to them) and about history film - later: Amy and Laurie sit in office of school paper => Amy smokes Chapter 4: - Ben Ross sits at his kitchen-table, reads book about 3rd Reich => does not understand why he cannot answer the pupil´s questions - cannot imagine that behaviour of majority of German population is really inexplicable - Christy realize that Ben will forget about the rest of the world when he starts a new topic Chapter 5: - Ben writes on blackboard: "Strength through discipline" - pupils are worried when Ben says that he is going to talk about discipline - propose little game: everybody has to sit very straight on his seat => asks them to stand up and to walk around the room => announced "Take your seats" => pupils run back to their seats => after a while they try to be always a bit faster/more organized - ask them questions and they have to answer in a special way Chapter 6: - pupils sit very stiffly in posture Ben taught them last day - writes on blackboard: "Community" - informs them about their name "The Wave" and their motto: "Strength through discipline, strength through community" and about their salute for all members - Brian still a bit sceptical about "Wave" - David meets the football-team in the afternoon => talk about fact they never win => afterwards: David tells them about "Wave" Chapter 7: - Laurie tells her parents about last 2 history lessons - her mother and her father are very sceptical about it; Laurie tries to convince them that it is not dangerous (it is interesting and a bit community spirit is not bad) - Ben keep up with reading book about WW2 Chapter 8: - next morning: Laurie and David discuss about objection of Laurie´s mother that Ben manipulate the pupils - every member of "Wave" receives a membership card and some are marked with a red X on the backside = monitor, has to report the others if they do not obey their rules - lunch time: the group sit at table (even Robert) and talk about new community Chapter 9: - Laurie and other reporters of "Grapevine" are in office of magazine and discuss about main topic of next issue - someone proposes "The Wave" Chapter 10: - Ben should come to Principal Owens´ office - Ben assumes that it has to do with "Wave" and is afraid that he should stop his experiment - but: Owens is very friendly and Ben explains his project - Ben is allowed to keep up with his experiment as long as many parents come to Owens Chapter 11: - Laurie finds white envelop on the floor of the paper office => anonymous author informs her about incident just a few days ago - Robert is allowed to be Ben´s bodyguart => but: Ben thinks it is not necessary and that for Robert this might be a part of the game to show he is important Chapter 12: - Laurie observes fight between Brian and junior named Deutsch - Laurie cannot understand reason for such an aggression and after talking to David she becomes more and more sure that "Wave" gets to much power - in office she meets Alex and Carl => agree that is important to stop expansion of "Wave" => decided to have emergency meeting at her home for non-Wave members - Laurie talks with her father about events at school in the evening => his father gets to know that a Jewish boy is beaten because he does not want to become a member of the "Wave" Chapter 13: - Brian wants to see the salute from Laurie => does not make it => Brian lets her pass - Sunday afternoon: "grapevine" staff meet and devots almost the entire edition to "Wave" (includes also the story of the boy writing the letter) => publication on next day Chapter 14: - Monday morning: Laurie wants to show Amy the story and to warn her - Amy does not believe her and says that Laurie simply does not like the idea that all pupils are equal - Laurie has no chance to convince Amy to leave - copies of "Grapevine" scooped up very fast - when Ben reads it: very disappointed, he does not expect such consequences - also memebers are very upset about the article - decided to stop Laurie => David will talk to her as soon as possible Chapter 15: - after party with "Grapevine" staff Laurie goes to her home - on her locker is written "enemy" - on way home David waits for her and tries to convince her to stop fight against "Wave" - impossible to convince her => David threatens her and even throws her to ground => realizes that he does something wrong - Christy tries to convince Ben that he has to finish "Wave" the next day if he does not want to lose his job - Ben confess that it is not easy to finish "Wave" - Laurie and David meet Ben at his home; result: want to stop "Wave" => Laurie and David promise not to say something to anybody Chapter 16: - next morning: Ben explains his plan to end "Wave" to Owens => trusts him - in classroom: Ben continues normaly => Laurie and David interrupt him Chapter 17: - assembly of all "Wave"-members - Ben shows them a video of Hitler and describes him as their leader - periode of "Wave" is over - all pupils and teachers are happy about this development, except Robert (only one who profits from "Wave") Point of view: - unlimited point of view => reader knows feelings of protagonists Style/Language: - 3rd person singular narrator - divided into 17 chapters - Structure: - exposition: chapter 1 - 3 - rising action : chapter 4 - 10 - climax : chapter 11 - falling action : chapter 12 - 16 - solution : chapter 17 Ending : - it is found a solution : the « good » wins
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